The court initially nullified [JURIST report] the October 27 declaration of independence while it studied its legality. The secession vote passed by 70-10 margin in the 135-seat Catalan parliament. In response to the vote, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy [official profile] responded by dissolving Catalan's Parliament and invoking Article 155 [text, PDF] on the Spanish Constitution in an attempt to take back Catalonia.

on Wednesday, the court released two decisions. The first annulled [text, PDF, in Spanish] the independence declaration, and the second declared [text, PDF, in Spanish] Catalonia's transitional law unconstitutional. The court announced that the independence declaration constitutes a "serious attack" against Spain and violates democratic ideals "with equal intensity." The court went onto say that the right to autonomy "is not and can not be confused with sovereignty."

New elections are scheduled for next month to replace the ousted regional government.

About Paper Chase

Paper Chase is JURIST's real-time legal news service, powered by a team of 30 law student reporters and editors led by law professor Bernard Hibbitts at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. As an educational service, Paper Chase is dedicated to presenting important legal news and materials rapidly, objectively and intelligibly in an accessible format.